Eminent molecular cell biologist awarded GRC fellowship

Eminent molecular cell biologist will establish a research team at the Research Center for Immunotherapy of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz

The Gutenberg Research College (GRC) of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) has awarded the coveted GRC fellowship to Professor Krishnaraj Rajalingam. In the upcoming years, he will lead a research team at the Research Center for Immunotherapy at Mainz University. Rajalingam's research is focused on understanding the molecular signaling machinery which controls fundamental cell processes such as programmed cell death, cell migration, and cell differentiation. Professor Krishnaraj Rajalingam has recently won the prestigious Heisenberg Professorship of the German Research Foundation (DFG) and has started off as a tenured cell biology professor in the Mainz University Medical Center from July 2014. He is currently heading a Molecular Signaling Unit, which is currently affiliated to the Institute of Immunology.

Professor Matthias Neubert, Director of the GRC and head of the Theoretical High Energy Physics work group at Mainz University, considers that conferring the fellowship to Professor Krishnaraj Rajalingam will provide "an important boost to the translational medicine in the areas of immunotherapy, the neurosciences, and vascular biology." Neubert added that the award of the GRC fellowship to Rajalingam will contribute significantly to the future development of this top-level research field in Mainz and will further enhance JGU's research profile.

Rajalingam's main research interests are to understand how signaling pathways are deregulated in pathological conditions like cancer. It is of paramount importance to understand the molecular basis to comprehend the etiology of complex disorders like cancer so that novel therapeutic strategies can be designed and administered in the clinics. How do the cells undergo programmed cell death? How do the cells migrate and differentiate to form different tissue types? How do bacterial pathogens interact with host cells? Which molecules in the cells can be targeted to specifically kill tumor cells? Rajalingam's goal is to answer some of these fundamental questions, which could pave the way for novel therapeutics for several major human diseases including cancer.

"The granting of the GRC fellowship to Professor Krishnaraj Rajalingam represents a major success for our Research Center for Immunotherapy and it will decisively help us in our efforts to become one of the leading centers for translational research in the fields of immunology, the neurosciences, and vascular biology. His research will undoubtedly contribute to a better understanding of what causes dysregulation in chronic infections, autoimmune disorders, and cancer," said Professor Ulrich Förstermann, the Chief Scientific Officer of the Mainz University Medical Center.